Elsie Brown

My work explores the concept of memory, imagination and the gaps in between. Memories are constructions made in accordance with present values, needs, desires and influences. A confabulation is a fantasy that has unconsciously emerged as a factual account in memory. A confabulation may be partly based on fact or be a complete construction of the imagination. My concept challenges what is real and what is imagined and shows how two completely contradictory things can combine and create a new ‘reality’.

The title of my work is inspired by the dadaist poem, which emphasises how random images can compliment each other and be considered aesthetic by some and unappreciated by others. My techniques were also influenced by Baldessin and Dalí.

The negative spaces evident in my body of work are symbolic of the gaps between memory and imagination; the place where confabulations emerge. These negative spaces become important as they are a part of the confabulation, a part of that memory the person chooses to remember or create according to their present needs, desires and influences.